Memorial Day History
Three years after the Civil War
ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the
nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A.
Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed
that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held
that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from
Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies centered around the
mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert
E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant,
presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and
Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the
cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting
prayers and singing hymns.
Local Observances Claim To Be First Local springtime
tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of
the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women
visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had
fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected
because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the
women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.
Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of
Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as
Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years
earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the
first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale
was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in
connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where
most of the war dead were buried.
Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and
President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial
Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in
the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff.
Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were
either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.
By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on
May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations
designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper
observance at their facilities.
It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to
honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was
declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often
called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as
were some other federal holidays.
Some States Have Confederate Observances Many Southern
states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi
celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the
fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina
observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date
Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19
and Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.
Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the
choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with
sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of
reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time,
testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a
people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National
Cemetery was approximately the same size as those that attend today’s
observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed
on each grave — a tradition followed at many national cemeteries today. In
recent years, the custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of
all departed loved ones.
The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found
in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen
heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied
today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars: “Not
only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also
an unwritten
memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”
To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in
December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law “The
National Moment of Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House
Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission’s charter is
to “encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their
country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging
and coordinating commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the
National Moment of Remembrance.
The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause
wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence
to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment
of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: “It’s a way we can all help put
the memorial back in Memorial Day.”
